Waka Gallery

Precious gems and fine art wait you at Vaka store and gallery. The finest opals and pearls and New Zealand Jade (pounamu) will tempt you when you walk into this Pacific adorned shop, with life size whales floating on the ceiling, Maori carving, pounamu sculpture, sparkling opals, incredible Tahitian pearls and New Zealand’s own Blue Pearls. You feel like you are on a voyage through the Pacific finding treasure along the way… this is a unique shopping experience.

Vaka’s owner Rob Lynes travels extensively throughout the Pacific sourcing the finest pearls and opals and a generational love of pounamu has cultivated an amazing collection of this precious stone, otherwise known as nephrite jade, the art of carving handed down from father to son to son. Rob, a gem cutter and renowned pounamu (jade) carver, has created with his team of talented jewellers, pearliers and jade carvers, an interactive gallery where you can see Opal, Pearl and Pounamu in their natural state transformed into fine jewellery and stunning works of art.

There is an energy in this gallery that will be apparent to those who harbour a love for precious gems… the Vaka team have over 25 years experience working together designing and creating . As editor and photographer working on this section I was truly mesmerised by the magnificent pearls and wondrous stones, the way the light plays on the opals like multicoloured fireflies trapped in a ring, or their pattern of tectonic ocean plates containing every shade of ocean blue and green, witnessing the most exquisitely coloured pounamu stone morph into

“The Navigator” under Rob Lynes’ talented hands: A Pacific man with chiselled features from months at sea, symbols of navigation and pelagic fish and birds carved lovingly into his back – Rob brings his native form alive and the stone starts to speak. Vaka

The gallery opened in September 2011 with a Blue Pearl Exhibition of stunning jewellery and loose pearls that you can choose to be made into your own original piece of jewellery.